Take me home, pirate!
by Brooke Davis24
Summary: Emma and Hook are in Central Park and she drinks the potion he gave her. And she finally remembers everything, including her feelings for him. Then, the both of them and Henry are ready to leave, destination Storybrooke.


_**Summary: **__Emma and Hook are in Central Park and she drinks the potion he gave her. And she finally remembers everything, including her feelings for him.  
__**Note: **__The story is spoiler-y, considering the last news about 'New York City Serenade'. So, if you don't wanna be spoiled, __**don't**__ read it. :]_

**Take me home, pirate!**

There she was, staring at the man who shook her life as a thunderclap in less than three days, unable to say a word, to make a move, to think clearly, her hands softly resting on the frail glass of the tiny bottle he gave her. He wanted Emma to drink that unusual, dodgy, sparkling fluid and he was looking at her almost painfully, as if every moment they were wasting in that spot of Central Park was right and wrong at the same time.  
She could see the relief, the happiness, the pure joy of being with her. She had seen that pesky sparkle light up in the blue of his eyes every time they were together, every time they _so casually _met, every time he warned her and prayed for her to listen to him. And it was not easy for Emma Swan to handle that look, because it made her feel loved as no one had ever done, except Henry. Not even Walsh. And simultaneously she could see the pain, the despair, his craving for her to believe him, to trust him, to take his side and soothe the storm that was raging through his being once and for all.  
And the worst part of it was that she _wanted_ to believe him. She wanted to trust him, and she partially did. After speaking with Henry and agreeing to pay the bail to get him out of jail, she asked her son to hide himself, just in case that man was really a stalker and she caught him with her superpower and faced him. Emma would have expected anything but the astonished, happy smile on that lips she was already kissed by, even though they didn't know each other… Or, at least, she didn't remember to know him.  
She looked up at the NYC version of Captain Hook and she sighed in resignation, hiding a smile behind her lips. Uncorking the little bottle and giving him an incredulous smirk, she took it in her mouth and tossed it off, not thinking, not judging herself or her actions, not hoping. She _just_ did it, praying that that thing was not going to kill her, because, after rejecting Walsh's proposal, she didn't know who would take care of her son in that case.  
At first, nothing changed. The only thing Emma could hear over the traffic was the heavy breath of the man in front of her. Then, it happened. Her heartbeat started to raise, shivers went down her body, shaking her from the inside, and she started _seeing_ and _feeling _and even _living_ a life she wasn't aware she had lived.

_My name's Henry. I'm your son._

She gave him up. She abandoned him as she was abandoned by Neal, by her parents. She saw them interacting for the first time, Henry throwing away an apple from her hand, her holding him in Archie's office, him smiling at her and carrying his fairytale book everywhere, him collapsing on the floor of Mary Margaret's apartment, him almost dead on a stretcher, him with Regina, then in Neverland, then in Storybrooke, then with her on the town line for the most painful goodbyes of her life.

_You found us._

She saw her parents, so young and still so perfect in their imperfections. She saw them kissing her forehead more than once, them supporting and even bothering her in Neverland with their constant presence, them looking at her lovingly, them being a family under the same roof. And she felt her love for them with all the consequences that followed, like the anger for letting her go, the pain for being separated, the gratitude for never giving up on her even when she was hard to understand, the guilt for her enraged words.

_Emma… What are you doing here?_

Neal. Or Bealfire. Or whatever. She saw them crushing on each other in that same city, fighting, yelling, confessing their love, realizing that it was too late, that there was too much pain for them to be reunited as lovers, as parents of their child. She saw him falling through a portal, telling her that he needed his fiancé to face Storybrooke, and the knowledge of being a father; she saw him screaming her name from a box in the middle of a huge cave, holding her, asking for a date, for a new start as a family. The family they never had the chance to be a part of, except for the time they were together, before he left her and let her go to jail. Now, she remembered even the reason why he did it and her anger lowered.

_You bested me._

Hook. He really was Captain Hook. A hotter and naughtier version of the ones Emma was used to. She saw them climbing a beanstalk, him bombarding her with his innuendos, him yelling her name and asking for her not to leave him with the giant, her in a cell with a guilty look on her face, them fighting around a portal into the once-was Lake Nostos, him offering his ship and his services to help her find Henry. She saw them kissing, and she remembered his words in the Echo Caves and in the jungle and at the town line. She heard herself whispering "good", her face streaked with tears, and she _felt_ something for him. Something new and even different from what she felt when they got separated.

"Emma…" he tried, his eyes brushing on her face gently.

She looked up at him and held his gaze for a very long time, half-closed lips, unable to pronounce a word. But her eyes and her heart called his name and her body provided for her loss of words, when Emma threw herself into his arms. She needed him, more than ever, because her shoulders were not strong enough to handle all those feelings, because she missed him and she still did, even if his hands were holding her tightly, and she could feel his breath catching her neck, trying to assure her he was real and he was not going anywhere.

"It's going to be okay… It's going to be okay!" he said and he meant it.

His good hand caressed Emma's hair in tenderness and he closed his eyes, as if he needed a moment to regain his composure. The last two days were even longer than the whole year he had spent away from her, because he was so close but still not close enough, and he kept asking himself how he could be able to leave her if she didn't regain her memories. But the nightmare was over and he was holding her against his chest and she was holding him back.

"You think so? I almost stabbed you!" Emma answered and they both chuckled, not ready to break the embrace they waited for a year.

"Considering that you almost _accepted_ the proposal of a man, the stabbing part was pretty easy, love." His words sounded as a reproach, but she enjoyed the irony in his tone and the return of the pet name he has always used for her.

"And what about jail?" she asked, chuckling again, and she couldn't help but sigh, when she heard him inhaling her perfume.

"Speaking of which," he started and Emma moved back to meet his gaze. His eyebrows were dramatically raised. "They force-fed me something called bologna. Is this a custom of your world, Swan?"

She laughed. She couldn't stop herself, trying to imagine the leather-dressed pirate in the attempt to not eat the bologna, and there it was. That look. The look he gave her on the town line, softly smiling at her as if she was the only one reason why his world kept moving. The most loving look she had ever received.

"Henry is going to explain everything you need to know. Plus, he's pretty excited about meeting you!" she confessed, and, turning her back to the right, nodded firmly and smiled. And Hook realized she was allowing her son to show himself to him. They were a pretty good team of scoundrels, he admitted with a tiny chuckle. "Now, let's go home!"

*  
"I told you since the very beginning, love." He mocked her with pride, while the three of them were walking toward the yellow Bug, Henry a few steps ahead of them. "We make quite the team, and a pretty good one."

Emma was still confused, as much as the other inhabitants of Storybrooke were when they got their memories back. Amused, she remembered the moment when her mother confessed her one-night-stand with Whale to David and his reaction to it, and she couldn't deny her mother was a badass in a manner of speaking. But, despite her confusion, when Emma wore her red leather jacket againd, her bail bonds behavior surfaced and she started being more confident, more Sassy-Old-Emma.

"Thanks to _me_." She teased him back, glancing at his face to catch his naughty smirk curving his lips.

"Do you really want to start this thing, love?" he asked, posing a hand over the Bug's roof and looking at her, his eyes openly challenging Emma.

"_You_ really don't want to start a fight with her, Hook. Trust me!" Henry told him, a knowing look on his face. "She's a badass and she is going to put you on your knees. _BAM_!" he continued, searching for Emma's fist to touch it with his and making a strange noise with his mouth, as if something was exploding.

"She is, isn't she?" Hook shook his head, his body finally relaxed, which didn't happen for a whole year, and he gave her one of his looks. The burning, loving, mischievous one.

Emma glanced at him briefly, then put the key into the keyhole and opened the door of the car, helping Henry to jump in.

"You know, Swan," he started, amusement in his voice. "A lot of people like us. Together, I mean." Emma looked at him, an _I-know-where-are-you-going_ look on her face.

"Is that so?" she asked. "And what about you?"

"Me? Oh, I love our ship, love." He answered, a dramatic zeal in his eyes when she frowned in curiosity.

"Ship?"

"Yes, love." He told her, an amused pride shining into his eyes, and Emma realized she had missed him more than she could've imagined, because he was able to give her exactly what she needed, _when_ she needed it: fun, support, teasing, tenderness, caring, depending on her exquisite state. And he understood her, no words needed, which meant he never pushed her to open herself, because he was patient and he was there not to change her, but to accept her the way she was. Even if that meant waiting for her a whole year and obtain only a hug, not even a sweet word. "I consider us a ship, as my marvelous Jolly Roger, and I think this ship sail itself, no matter how hard you try to get it down with _marriage proposals_," he purposely emphasized the last two words, not ready to let it go yet. It was a bit of a trauma to witness that scene! "When you have a _dashing rapscallion_ waiting for you."

She chuckled at his attempt to make her smile and shook her head, the blond strands of her hair swaying around her beautiful face.

"Are we going to Storybrooke, mom, or did you forget we have a town to save?" Henry yelled from the inside of the car. She smiled at her son's words, and, even though she was going towards another big fight, she was ready, readier that she had ever been. Because she was stronger now, and happier, and she had two men by her side.

"Take me home, pirate!" 


End file.
